Many times I’ve heard the questions, how do you write? How do you learn to write? How can I learn to write (or write better)?
Good questions, and believe it or not there are some pretty simple answers. Much easier than finding your way through a maze.
Ken Levine says this is the best comedy writing book evah…and who are we to disagree?
If anybody ever had great credentials for a book about comedy – what it is, what it ain’t – Dan O’Shannon, Emmy winning showrunner of MODERN FAMILY, former showrunner of FRASIER, former executive producer of CHEERS is the guy. His approach – analyzing the “comedic event” as opposed to examining joke structure, makes you wonder why anybody ever even thought of looking at what’s funny another way. To O’Shannon, context is everything…and he’s convinced me of it too.
With that in mind:
Lookit that picture up there, kids. Just look at it. Damn that boy looks pleased.
And why not? After a zillion years (well, over 20 for sure) as the world’s highest paid assistant (to Rupert Murdoch, no less), Mr. Chernin left his $15,000,000+ a year gig as President of News Corp. and formed the Chernin Group, forming all kinds of cool alliances with Fox, Dreamworks, and lesser entities. No more Rupert butt to kiss. Yay!
Earlier this year he scored $200 million in working capital from Providence Equity Partners, possibly to fund a merger (read “takeover”) of Endemol, one of the biggest produces of reality TV in the world, and Core Media, which produces AMERICAN IDOL and SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE and, better yet, holds the licensing rights to Elvis Presley and Muhammed Ali.
Yeppers, the BBC has announced that the DOC’s annual Christmas show will be airing on BBC America December 25th at 9 pm Eastern/10 pm Central Time.
Showrunner Steven-the Moff-Moffat is the writer, and amid the various Christmas-type surprises we’ll also meet the Doctor’s new companion, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman, and renew our acquaintanceship with Silurian Madame Vastra.
Yo, if that ain’t the Christmas spirit, then what is?
The guy on the left, marked “husband,” is Rob Cohen. The babe on the right, marked “wife” is Janeane Garofalo.
Rob is writer/co-executive producer of THE BIG BANG THEORY and has also been a writer-producer on AMERICAN DAD, THE JAMIE KENNEDY EXPERIMENT, ACCORDING TO JIM, and on and on and on.